Mission Statement

The Geology, Environment and Sustainability Department of Hofstra University is proud of more than a half century of dedication to educating and inspiring our geology students. Hofstra Geology graduates are well established in all facets of educational, governmental, and commercial enterprise and postgraduate study. Our mission is, and has always been, to provide the best practical and theoretical education for our students from faculty whose teaching excellence and scientific research activities encourage students to both pursue their interests and realize their professional goals.

The primary goal of our undergraduate programs is the development of critical thinking skills within the context of the geological sciences. Utilizing integrated lecture and laboratory courses, we enable students to interact with the conceptual and physical world by developing observation skills and by fostering techniques of inductive and deductive reasoning. These principles are framed within the dimension of geological time, a unique characteristic of geology far more expansive than that of all human experience.

We value our historic commitment to the experiential component of geological science instruction, those educational experiences that occur in the field and laboratory. In the field, students apply principles learned in the classroom to the identification of geologic features, the solution of geological problems, and the unraveling of geological history. In the laboratory students perform tests to collect data and to analyze earth materials both qualitatively and quantitatively, developing insight into geological processes and geological changes that have occurred over vast periods of time.

We teach our students to communicate effectively by verbal, written, and visual means. Students are required to synthesize what they learn in the classroom, laboratory, and field and to present data, ideas, and interpretations to an audience of their instructors and peers. We develop in our students the skills of professional scientific communication by having students associate and interact with an active research faculty who are experts in their fields of study.

To teach the fundamentals of performing research in the geological sciences, all geology faculty involve students in collaborative research projects that often lead to presentations at professional meetings and external publications. These collaborative projects provide our students with a capstone undergraduate experience while at the same time advancing the intellectual mission of the Geology Department and Hofstra University.

The Hofstra Geology Department is committed to the postgraduate success of our students. Our faculty maintain active liaisons with educational, geotechnical, and environmental entities, and with the help of Geology alumni now established in their careers, we are successful in providing recommendations for internships and postgraduate placement of students in careers suited to their individual abilities. Furthermore, our professional connections with academe allow us to direct students seeking advanced graduate degrees to appropriate graduate programs.